Poverty and Economic Mobility - Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis

WashU researchers launch next phase of wealth-building research

Roger — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 21:06:47 +0000

Researchers at the Center for Social Development (CSD) in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis are launching a new initiative to help shape the future of wealth-building policy in the United States, with a focus on giving children stronger financial foundations that can last a lifetime. Supported by Prudential Financial, the two-year project will assess the nation’s early childhood wealth-building policies; identify gaps between current programs and research-based best practices; and develop practical tools to help policymakers design more effective initiatives. “Our vision is to create an effective, evidence-based continuum of wealth-building opportunities from birth to retirement,” said Stephen Roll, an assistant professor at the Brown School and research director at CSD. “If we could develop the right set of...

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Public benefits ‘cliffs’ can trap low-wage workers, study finds

Roger — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:06:05 +0000

New research from Washington University in St. Louis argues that policymakers should enact gradual cutoffs for public benefits such as food assistance or healthcare. The change could help both families and employers by allowing low-wage workers to earn more without losing critical support systems. Millions of low-wage Americans using public assistance limit their earnings or savings, according to the study from the Center for Social Development (CSD) at the ��. The findings suggest that so-called “benefits cliffs” can discourage work, career advancement and financial security for families already struggling to make ends meet. In the research brief, Stephen Roll, an assistant professor and research director at the CSD, and co-author Mathieu Despard, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, examined responses...

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Brown School researcher receives grant to study college persistence among low-income ��s

Roger — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:40:08 +0000

Jason Jabbari, an assistant professor at the ��, has received a one-year $300,000 grant from the Popolo Family Foundation to study why some ��s with limited resources persist and thrive in college while others leave before earning a degree. The project, “Understanding and Improving College Persistence,” builds on a long-standing research-practice partnership with the Cristo Rey Network, whose schools serve ��s from low-income communities nationwide. Jabbari is leading the study with Shaun Dougherty, of Boston College; Lauren Russell, of the University of Pennsylvania; Lili Dodderidge, of Cornell University; and Fahv Jimenez, of Jimenez Strategy & Analytics. The research will combine administrative records from Cristo Rey schools, corporate work-study data and National Student Clearinghouse records to identify factors associated...

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WashU Expert: Is the American Dream in serious trouble?

Roger — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:17:06 +0000

Fewer than half of Americans today, 49%, believe that all people in this country have the ability to achieve the American Dream, according to a recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute. Among those under age 30, it falls to 36%. This should serve as a wake-up call for all of us, says an expert on economic inequality at the ��. “The American Dream is really core to our identity and what America is about,” Mark Rank, the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare, told USA Today. “The fact that it is in trouble is something we need to pay close attention to.” Rank is author of the groundbreaking 2014 book “Chasing the American Dream: Understanding What Shapes...

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Chung receives Spencer Foundation grant to study postsecondary options in St. Louis

Roger — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:02:58 +0000

The ��’s Social System Design Lab has received a $75,000 Spencer Foundation grant to study pathways from high school to careers in St. Louis. This collaborative vision planning grant will support a new research initiative focused on improving diverse education-to-career pathways for ��s in St. Louis. Principal investigator Saras Chung, a research associate professor and director of the Social System Design Lab, is leading this work in close partnership with diverse St. Louis community partners, including educators, business leaders and community nonprofits. This grant is a first step toward a potential larger award — up to $3.5 million — through the Spencer Foundation’s Transformative Research Grant program, which supports ambitious efforts to advance equity in education systems. The project...

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Huang installed as Irving Louis Horowitz Professor in Social Policy

Roger — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 17:39:10 +0000

Jin Huang has been installed as the Irving Louis Horowitz Professor in Social Policy at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. A ceremony took place April 22. He delivered an installation address titled “What Institutions Make Possible.” Huang is co-director of the ��’s Center for Social Development and an internationally renowned expert in the development of social policies that support family and child well-being. His work centers on financial capability and asset building programs for disadvantaged populations, such as low-income children, children with disabilities, children of immigrants, and youth in transition to adulthood. Huang’s research aims for universal policies that offer financial capability and structured asset building for all. The Irving Louis Horowitz Professorship in Social...

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WashU Experts: Trump accounts must have auto enrollment

Roger — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:48:25 +0000

Widespread promotion has started for so-called Trump Accounts, including an ad during the Super Bowl. The accounts allow parents to opt in to claim investment seed money of up to $1,000 for their children. But that opt-in part is problematic, say two experts on child development accounts at Washington University in St. Louis. “Automatic enrollment is the difference between Trump Accounts functioning as a truly universal wealth-building policy and a policy that unintentionally leaves out many children,” said Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor. “In the field of early wealth-building, automatic enrollment is the gold standard for achieving full participation.” The strongest U.S. evidence comes from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (SEED OK) experiment conducted by Sherraden and the...

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Guaranteed income improves food security for Black households in Georgia, study finds

admin — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:41:32 +0000

Guaranteed income programs may reduce food insecurity and improve nutrition among low-income Black households in Georgia, according to a new study led by the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. The study evaluated the “In Her Hands” pilot program, launched in 2022, which provided $20,400 over two years to 654 randomly selected low-income women in three majority-Black Georgia communities. Participants reported higher household food security and better diet quality than women who did not receive the payments. Stephen Roll, assistant professor and research director at the Brown School’s Center for Social Development and the study’s lead author, said 40% of the women in the program reported high or marginal food security, compared with 14% of women in the...

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Brown School ��s take social work lessons to local policy hearings

admin — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 20:42:53 +0000

When a tornado tore through the St. Louis region last May, Chloe Brewer, a Master of Social Work �� at Washington University’s Brown School, lost her apartment. Though her home was uninhabitable, her property management initially insisted she continue paying rent. Brewer recently recounted that experience during a meeting of the Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee of the St. Louis Board of Alderman, advocating for full funding of the city’s Housing Eviction Law Program, also known as the Right to Counsel Program. The program provides access to legal representation for tenants facing eviction. “They would have made me pay rent for the month of June, only two weeks after the tornado, despite having no place to live,” Brewer told...

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Brown School to fund practicums, provide stipends for social work ��s

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 06:01:00 +0000

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will fully fund practicum internship experiences and provide living stipends to ��s in its Master of Social Work program beginning in fall 2026, Dorian Traube, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School, announced. The Practicum Support Award will be available to both new and returning MSW ��s. It will cover full tuition for required practicum credits and provide a living stipend distributed throughout a ��’s program. Traube said both tuition coverage and stipend support are essential to addressing the financial strain ��s often face during unpaid practicum placements. Meeting the rigorous applied training requirements of the MSW degree can make it challenging to simultaneously maintain paid employment....

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St. Louis guaranteed basic income pilot improved financial stability, study finds

Roger — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 20:09:27 +0000

Researchers from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis have released new findings from their evaluation of St. Louis’ Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) Pilot Program, showing that regular, unrestricted cash payments significantly improved participants’ economic security, credit health and overall quality of life. “A steady, predictable income stream gave families room to breathe — and to plan,” said Stephen Roll, an assistant professor at the Brown School and director of research at the Center for Social Development. “Families used the payments to stay current on bills, avoid crises, and invest in their children. Many were able to build emergency savings for the first time. When we trust families to make decisions for themselves, the outcomes are overwhelmingly positive.” The...

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College remains a strong investment — even with �� debt, study finds

Roger — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 15:38:15 +0000

Even after factoring in �� loan payments, completing a college degree continues to pay off, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis’ Center for Social Development (CSD) at the Brown School. The study, published Nov. 3 by the Brookings Institution, finds that degree holders earn on average $8,000 more per year than similar individuals who attended college but did not complete a degree — even after accounting for �� loan payments. Without factoring in debt, the earnings premium rises to $10,400 per year. “Despite concerns about rising tuition costs and growing debt, the data show that higher education remains a worthwhile financial investment,” said Jason Jabbari, an assistant professor at the Brown School, faculty director of the Clark-Fox Policy...

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Jabbari receives grant to study social mobility

Roger — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 18:38:35 +0000

Jason Jabbari, an assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a two-year $352,943 grant from Arnold Ventures to evaluate the impact of the Cristo Rey Network’s professional work-based learning model on social mobility and racial equity. The Cristo Rey Network, which serves low-income ��s, combines college-preparatory curriculum with a corporate work-study program in which ��s work one day per week at a local corporation. Jabbari, along with Shaun Dougherty of Boston College, Lauren Russell of the University of Pennsylvania, and Fahvyon Jimenez of Jimenez Strategy & Analytics, will work with a variety of administrative datasets to compare college and employment outcomes of Cristo Rey graduates to similar non-attending applicants. “By leveraging historical application...

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Opt-in enrollment could undermine Trump Accounts’ policy goals

Roger — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 12:11:00 +0000

Using a “check-the-box” opt-in process to open federally funded Trump Accounts for children likely will exclude millions of eligible families — and undermine the program’s promise to promote lifelong asset building, finds a new policy brief from the Center for Social Development (CSD) at Washington University in St. Louis. Set to launch later this year, Trump Accounts will provide every U.S. child with a Social Security number born between January 2025 and December 2028 a one-time $1,000 deposit. The Treasury Department is considering requiring parents to actively “check a box” on their federal tax returns to authorize the accounts’ creation. However, evidence shows that approach doesn’t work, according to the brief’s co-authors. Decades of behavioral research indicates that opt-in systems consistently fall...

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Naseh selected for national poverty scholars program

admin — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:45:00 +0000

Mitra Naseh, assistant professor at the Brown School, has been selected as one of four scholars nationwide for the 2025-2026 Visiting Poverty Scholars Program, administered by the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The program supports U.S.-based poverty scholars from low-income backgrounds by providing access to academic resources and professional networks. Scholars spend a week in residence at IRP or one of its partner centers. Naseh will complete her residency at the Center for Poverty & Inequality Research at the University of California, Davis. There, she will collaborate with faculty, access research resources, and present a seminar on poverty-related issues. “I’m honored to receive this competitive award and to engage with scholars at UC Davis as I further...

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